Researchers Hod Lipson and Charlie Richter at Cornell University have developed a tiny flying robot using the principals of insect flight and a 3-d printer. The Pentagon’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is no doubt salivating, at this exciting new development. According to the New Scientist, DARPA, “has said it wants a 10-gram aircraft with a 7.5-centimetre wingspan that can explore caves and other hiding places, relaying GPS data and images to base.” That’s right, the next war won’t be televised, it will be printed. More from the New Scientist post:
What’s so special about 3D printers? They make it possible to create complex strutures, such as wings that are warped to improve performance, like the manually curved wings of a paper aeroplane, says Richter. Their printer is capable of producing features just 40 micrometres wide, and thin films just 16 micrometres thick.
The other advantage of printing is speed, says Lipson. Once they have arrived at a new wing design, printing a set takes under an hour.
With the exception of its motor and battery, their latest four-winged creation is almost entirely printed from polyester films stretched over carbon fibre rods, and weighs in at just 3.89 grams – a six-fold weight reduction on their previous version – and capable of hovering untethered for up to 85 seconds.
The prolific Weiki Somers is an artist/designer who, in collaboration with Dylan Van Den Berg, form Studio Weiki Somers. Some of her recent work has caught the media’s attention. These pieces are constructed out of human ashes that have been run through a 3-D printer to create sculpture that combines objects of mundane consumer life with moments of sublime nature. Beyond the creepy/beautiful factor, what is Somers pointing to with this loaded conceptual work? Here is a quote from the designer:
“A dilemma that questions us most, is the way technology (or humanity) has made it possible to extend our lives almost endlessly,” she says. “But what is an eternal life good for if we use it only to continue being excessive consumers who strive for more and more products, regardless of the consequences?”
Curious and compelling work that asks many more questions than it answers.
It has been said that the unique custom printing is the future of mass production. For yoga mats and Board shorts the gauntlet has been dropped, in this case by Shortomatic and Yogamatic two ventures promising to quickly produce a pair of shorts or a yoga mat with any image you can upload. They describe the process:
Every product is printed on demand, individually to your order in our California studio, using ultra high-resolution state-of-the-art printing systems. The Yoga Mat uses flexible Dri-Touch inks that are water based and solvent free, resulting in an odor free and non-toxic finish. Meanwhile the dyes used on the Travel Mat/Yoga Towel are approved fabric pigments.
They also solicit invitations for any would be board short artist to join their community, making your design available to others (in a profit sharing model similar to Threadless). These designs can be viewed on a ‘gallery’ page and are produced in limited editions.
Not one to miss a branding opportunity or a trend the NY Times has reported on this product here.
Now at long last I can consume and conform in my own unique way!
It’s nice to know that someone is out there doing the good work of making screwball printing machines for a mobile digital age. In this case, it’s designer Jinhee Kim whose concept design for a digital camera rubber stamp you see here. His idea was first given internet fame via the magazine. All he needs is the venture capital.. unfortunately the Printeresting hedge fund (Prnty on the NasDaq Exchange) is fresh out of green backs. Here is what Yanko has to say about this device:
Why would you want a digital camera that doubles up as a rubber stamp? Why? The answer is simple….just for fun! As of now digicams offer a variety of options and modes (sepia, landscape etc.) to take pictures and edit them. Stampy Digital Camera gives you the option of creating a rubber-stamp version of your photograph, so that you stamp it onto any sheet of paper or surface.
More design concept images after the jump. (via gizmodo)
Eric Fuertes, who is currently a graduate student in sculpture at Northern Illinois University, sent us this new video of his Dumbo Printing Press (which you may have seen before here).
Warning: this video features a musical soundtrack that some readers may find objectionable!
Ha Ha! Just kidding about the music; everybody loves that song! This is Fuertes’ UFO/skateboard printing press:
Eric has entered the “Pepsi Refresh” grant competition, and is seeking funding to take this show on the road with a series of public print workshops. You can vote for his project here.
canzona — June 07, 2009 — An homage to the great Alvin Lucier, this piece explores the ‘photocopy effect’, where upon repeated copies the object begin to accumulate the idiosyncrasies of the medium doing the copying. Full words: I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice as well as the image of myself, and I am going to upload it to YouTube, rip it from YouTube, and upload it again and again, until the original characteristics of both my voice and my image are destroyed. What you will see and hear, then, are the artifacts inherent in the video codec of both YouTube and the mp4 format I convert it to on my computer. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a digital fact, but more as a way to eliminate all human qualities my speech and image might have. Please visit: http://www.ontologist.us and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sit…
…who can you trust? The photocopier: friendly, time-saving office equipment or malicious, information-stealing thief? Warning, if you’re already paranoid about security, you do not want to watch this CBS report on digital copiers. You won’t be able to fall asleep tonight. Let the (justified) paranoia begin…
The printing industry is growing in an unexpected place… the virtual world.
It’s true! One level of the Xbox 360 videogame Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction takes place in a printing facility including preprint section and a paper storage warehouse. Check out this screenshot sent to us by Ingo Delinger… that’s a fake Heidelberg Speedmaster cameo. It may be hard to see in the pic but game developers just changed the name to Delheiberg!
The picture below shows a real world version…
So I guess we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The printing industry is adapting for the twenty-first century… sort of.
Whoa! Tyler’s really going to let a couple of printmakers from Kansas try this in their brand new art building?! I can’t wait… this has got disaster written all over it.
Pussycat Press master printers Mike McMann and Jason Scuilla will demonstrate an electrolytic etching system using readily available, inexpensive equipment, a non-toxic solution and low voltage electricity. Electro-etching is the safe removal of metal from the exposed plate surface. Building on the research of Nik Semenoff, Cedric Green, and Stanley William Hayter, the two printers will explore the pos¬sibilities of various traditional and contemporary intaglio techniques including, conventional and acrylic grounds, open-bite, aquatint, and digital applications. The session will include a discussion of equipment and setup options as the participants are taken through this innovative plate making process.
